The WVU Men’s Basketball team took a trip to Waco, TX to take on the Baylor Bears in a matchup of two Tournament hopefuls.
It started off as a defensive slugfest with both teams struggling to find their footing on the offensive side of the floor. At the first media timeout, the Mountaineers found themselves with only five points, trailing by three.
At the 14 minute mark, Toby Okani would knock down his second of three made threes in the game to tie the score at ten. The senior finished with a 19 points, his second straight game with over 15.
From there, the teams would go back and forth before Javon Small knocked down one of his two triples to tie the game up at 21 with five minutes remaining before half. West Virginia would not score again before halftime until just 38 seconds remained when Small broke the seal with a dunk.
Small would make another jumper with eight seconds before the end of the half to give him seven of his game-high 22 points at the break. The Mountaineers entered the locker room trailing the Bears 30-25.
As a team, WVU shot just 32 percent from the field in the first twenty minutes and struggled from behind the arc, making just three of their 17 attempts.
The Mountaineers came out firing on all cylinders, opening up on a 14-4 run to the under-16 media timeout and taking a 39-34 lead. The run included both a four point play from Jonathan Powell and just the fifth made three all season by Sencire Harris. Those four points by Powell were all the freshman scored all afternoon, shooting 1-12 from the field and 1-9 from three.
The entire second half was a back-and-fourth affair with neither team being able to take control. The largest lead by either squad in the second half was just six points at the eight and a half minute mark by Baylor.
West Virginia would battle back and even take their own two point lead twice in the contest with the latest coming with just over three minutes left in the game after an Amani Hansberry jumper. Hansberry finished the game with eight points.
After relying on Small and Okani for a majority of the second half, each scoring 11 points in that time, it was Hansberry who knocked down a pair of clutch free throws to tie the game at 65 with just 32 seconds remaining. The team would get a stop to force overtime on the road. Powell’s half court heave to win at the buzzer just bounced off the front of the rim.
It was a struggle on offense in OT for the Mountaineers who only scored six points, four of which came from Small. Baylor was able to get to the free throw line a ton in the extra period, scoring all nine of their points in the added five minutes from the charity stripe.
The Mountaineers would fall 74-71 and drop to 15-10, (6-8) on the season.
As a team, the Mountaineers shot 40 percent from the field but continued to struggle from three point range, going 8-31. Ultimately, it was the free throw numbers that decided the game in Baylor’s favor. The Bears were an incredible 27-32 from the line.
Entering the game, West Virginia was already on the bubble alongside of Baylor, and now the path will be even tougher for the Gold and Blue. Their next game will take place at home on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7:00 p.m. against Cincinnati. The game can be viewed on ESPN2.
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